Weapons and Roses
by EmberChance
Summary: "Hello little mortal. Did you forget me?" that oh so familiar dark lulling voice and musky scent invaded her senses. Sakura looked up involuntarily and was trapped by unmerciful red eyes."I haven't forgotten you. Not for the week I had to recover from that lovely stab wound you gave me or the three years that followed.Sweet nightmares, little one, think of me." Sakura was so dead.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I know I probably should finish my other story before I start a new one but … oh well too late now. Anyway hope you like this story. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Weapons and Roses**

**Chapter 1**

_Quiet. _

_You must be extremely quiet._

The smell of stale air and rusted metal pierced her nose. Slowly, Sakura wriggled forward on her stomach, careful not to bang anything against the sides of the small metal vent she was in. She really only just fit lying flat on her stomach. Inching forward once more, she saw her target.

_There!_

One more wriggle and she was at the grate. Peering through the slits, she watched and listened for any sign of movement. It came a few seconds later in the form of two guards.

"I don't know why we have to guard this stupid book. It's not like anyone would be able to get this far in anyway.", complained the blond man, dressed in a standard black security uniform with a hand gun in a holder on his side. "It would be so much more fun if we were on one of the outer patrols."

"Hn", grunted his dark haired companion in a deep male voice.

Glancing at her watch quickly, she read 02:59.

_Any second now_.

Bracing herself between both sides of the vents with her arms she waited.

"Hey Teme-"

The building shook, trembling furiously for a few seconds accompanied by the sound of a large blast. After the tremors stopped the sound of distant shouts and the clash of magick and weapons took their place. The building to shook every once and a while when a powerful spell was released. Sakura calmly retrieved her plain black mask, being sure to adjust it correctly so it would fit under her hood which hid her distinctive pastel pink hair.

"What the hell was that!?", the blond loudmouth called from below her.

"Quiet dobe", snapped the other.

How disappointing, they didn't run towards the explosion and fighting. No matter.

Breaking the seal, she dropped a small, ominous, metal container through the grate. It made a slight plink as it hit the ground, before it rolled a bit. The guards whirled around guns out, safety off.

"Who's there! Show yourself.", yelled the dark haired one, not even a hint of emotion betrayed in his tone.

_Patience, patience_, Sakura smiled into the darkness. _You'll know soon enough_.

Slowly the two guards prowled forward, like predators stalking their prey as one. Too bad these predators had been outsmarted.

They reached the small metal tube, directly under the grate. The blond picked it up while his dark haired companion covered him. "What th-"

The dark haired one looked up quickly, just as the blond stared to sway. Dark, onyx eyes pierced through the blackness for an instant.

He couldn't have seen her, right? Hidden in the darkness of the vent she should have been nothing more than a shadow, a phantom in the darkness. But his eyes, those eyes seemed to pierce straight through her soul, baring all her secrets that no one knew. For a moment she could have sworn they flashed red. And then the moment ended.

"Shit." He toppled over to join his friend sprawled ungracefully across the ground.

Sakura let go of a sigh of relief before moving around so she was hunched on her knees. Gently, she eased the grate away and placed it across from her. Then she lowered herself down the hole before letting go. Landing softly on all fours, she straightened and surveyed the area for danger from any other threats. The lights had been shut off, but the back-up generators had kicked in and light up small sections of the now shadowed room and four surrounding passageways.

_Clear. _

Taking a step towards the bodies, she kicked them both in the legs. No movement, no response, not even a sound was omitted from either.

_Good._

Looking at their face she decided both were beautiful in their own way. The blond had a boyish face and a bright, happy aura, if she read it correctly. The dark haired one was more mysterious and reserved if his interaction with his companion was anything to go by. But there was definitely something dangerous about the pair of them. If she had to choose based on looks and first impressions alone, she would pick the dark haired one. He was more of her type than the other.

But those good looks wouldn't save them from their angry superiors after this. Grabbing both of their guns she took them with her.

Turning she walked over to the bluish coloured force field surrounding the book which was being held on a pedestal. After considering it for a few seconds to be sure that all of the other protection mechanisms had been switched off, she slipped straight through it. After all, nothing had ever been able to keep her out. Grabbing the small ancient tome, Sakura stashed it into the inside pocket of her black jacket. In its place she left the two guns. Running back through the force field with ease, she continued on past the two bodies to the furthest unlit hallway on her left.

A small vibration from her watch signalled there was seven minutes to drop out. Still enough time to get what she came for.

Veering off to the side of the hallway, she reached through a door and unlocked it. Stepping through and closing the door behind her, Sakura stalked into the tiny, windowless office and went straight for the ancient desk. She kneeled beside one of the back desk legs, drew a few symbols onto it with a careful finger and held her breath. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then there was a click and a small pendant dropped into her waiting hand.

The pendant was nothing spectacular, a simple dull green pebble with a cord tied around it to form a loop at the top for it to be threaded on to something. Sakura grabbed a piece of thin unbreakable piece of magicked cord she had bought from a goblin market and threaded the pendant on. After she tied it around her neck, she tucked it under her shirt and stood ready to leave.

Suddenly the almost imperceptible sound came from just outside the door.

_Shit._

Phasing, she launched herself through the wall on her right just as the door blasted open with a stream if blue fire. Landing hard on her side she quickly righted herself and ran up the stairs of the fire escape.

_How fortunate the next room was a fire stairwell._

A mere eight seconds after she had started running up the sound of a second door being blasted open sounded from a few flights below.

_Guess the bastards found out their precious book was stolen. _

Sending out an undetectable magick messenger she conveyed a message, _**Enemies have been alerted. On route to drop out point, will attempt to lose them. Be prepared for immediate departure**_.

A message was returned a second later, _**Acknowledged**_.

The sound of something whizzing towards her had her ducking out of the way just as a blue ball of fire and wind scorched the place where her head had just been. Reaching into another pocket of her jacket, she threw a live grenade down the stairs and continued running. The blast shook the stairwell forcing her to her knees.

A tingle on the back of her neck alerted her to an enemy's presence, but she was to slow. Picked up by her neck, she was slammed into wall.

Turns out the two guards from earlier weren't as incompetent as she thought. Nor were they human for that matter, considering their quick recovery from the strong drug they inhaled.

"Give me the book", the blond guard snarled flashing his fangs. His claws dug into the black material of the turtle neck shirt she wore underneath her hooded jacket, nearly piercing her skin. A fox daemon, she gathered as she held onto his wrist with both hands even though she would not be able to overpower him in strength.

"If you give it up now, we will let you go" he continued.

His dark haired companion melted out from the shadows behind him. His eyes were a piercing blood red, obsidian bat like wings adorned his back, fangs pierced his lips and a sword riddled with sparks of lightning was held at his side. A chaos daemon, a very strong one as well. Two very strong demons. Every single instinct she had was screaming at her to get far and fast away from them or beg for mercy.

_This is **way** out of my league, no wonder the pay was so high it was boarded on obscene. _

"I suggest you play nice little mortal", the chaos daemon ordered, the cold darkness in his voice sending shivers up her spine. He had obviously sniffed out what she was, or what he thought she was.

Well if she was going down she was going down fighting and as for playing nice, she had never played nice once in her life. It was what had kept her alive.

Sending a flare of magick from her hand, that gripped the wrist of the fox daemon she activated the magick symbols painstakingly woven into her gloves, a green hue shone around her gloves. Quickly and without remorse she snapped his bones. His pained scream shot through the air as he loosened his hold on her neck allowing her to slip out, simultaneously, she grabbed another metal container that and threw it in the ground. However, the chaos daemon was already on top of her. The sword swung down, deadly lightning sparking from it. She ducked to the side avoid it but gained a shallow cut on her upper arm. Blood seeped from her wound and into the black leather of her jacket. He came at her again, but she was ready this time, stepping close and out of the swords range to slash at him with one of her daggers. Gracefully, he leap back to avoid it. From the corner of her eye the fox daemon seemed to have recovered, his arm nearly healed. It all occurred in a couple of seconds, but that was all she needed. By that point the stairwell was filled with the gas that both obscured the daemons and her from view and played havoc with their sense of smell. Sometimes having overly enhanced senses was a bitch. Sakura smirked.

Immediately, Sakura phased. The lightening sword slammed through her stomach, but it had no effect. It went straight through her as if she was made of air, not that the daemons would be able to see that. She flew up the last flight of stairs, phased back into her human form and slammed open the door to the roof.

_No sense in letting them realise what I am and giving them the advantage._

Sakura ran to the edge of the building.

"Shit", she muttered, nearly going over and only just managing to catch her balance in time. Quickly, she moved a few steps back from the edge. Ninety-five stories up in the air, there was no building in the vicinity that she could jump to of similar height. It would be a fall to her instant and bloody death.

"You've got nowhere to run. Give up", that dark lulling voice breathed in her ear.

Swinging out her fist, the daemon caught it. However, that was a decoy for her well-aimed knee between the legs. Groaning he released her, allowing her to jump back and onto the edge of the building. The blond fox daemon appeared by his side in the next second.

"Easy now," the blond called after he took stock of the situation. His hands out as if he was trying to tame a spooked horse.

"You don't want to do that unless you have wings of some sort", the chaos daemon murmured after he straightened to look her straight in the eyes. Slowly he reached out a hand.

Inching back a bit more, both males froze.

"We swear we won't harm you, if you come off the ledge and give us the book", the dark haired male coaxed, his voice persuasive and lulling. It had no doubt tricked many others into giving in without a fight.

Cautiously he took another step forward; apparently he believed he was winning her over. "Come there is no need for you to jump to your death."

The fox daemon inched closer as well. Both were almost in reaching distance.

Weighing up her options, Sakura decided had no choice. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes … she flung herself of the building.

Two hands missed her by a fraction of an inch and then she was plummeting towards the earth. The air rushed around her as she angled herself head first towards the ground.

_This had better work or I am going to become a bloody pancake. Literally._

Obsidian wings suddenly filled her vision. "You really don't care about your life do you, mortal?", the chaos daemon yelled over the howl of the wind. His body angled down like hers. "One last chance. Surrender. You can't win." He offered a hand, an arrogant smirk on his godlike face, clearly believing he had won.

Grasping it she pulled him close, his strong arms and musky scent enveloped her.

"Never!" She stabbed the knife into his lower back and phased. He let go immediately due to the pain. Grasping the pendant she sent up a silent pray. And then they hit the ground.

Or he did at least. She went straight through it.

_Come on, come on. _

Seconds later she passed through the subway tunnel and an oncoming train full of passengers.

_COME ON!_

She forced every ounce of magick she had into the pendant. Then she passed into the sewerage tunnels. There was a blast of fairy fire green. And then there was nothing.

…**Weapons and Roses…**

So cliff hanger. Whoops. (hahaha)

Please Review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, here is chapter 2 of Weapons and Roses. It's a shorter chapter, so I apologise for that. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

…WeaponsAndRoses…

**Chapter 2**

Sakura sat up gasping for breath. The putrid stench of rats and faeces assaulted her nose.

"Ugh"

She was on the side walkway of the sewerage tunnels. The rush of the sewerage water passed rapidly beside her.

"Guess it worked". Standing up on shaky legs she made her way down the tunnel as quickly as she could. Her legs gradually gained strength as her fear and shock from her near death experience passed. Unfortunately, she had lost her favourite dagger with an emerald encrusted on its hilt. Such a shame, it had served her well over the years.

A small glowing orb whizzed toward her. Offering her hand, it sunk into her skin.

_**Thirty seconds to drop out**_, a male voice sounded in her head sent from a magick messenger orb. _**Your signal from your communication device indicates you are twenty metres away in an easterly direction from the drop out point**_.

Glancing at her watch her watch to check her direction, she found east was straight through the wall beside her.

"Hah, too easy", Sakura crowed, a triumphant smirk adorning her face under her mask.

She phased into her other form and ran through tunnel wall after tunnel wall until she burst through the final wall separating her from her destination.

A gateway circled in magick symbols stood proudly in front of her. Colours flickered in its centre giving away nothing of the location it would lead her to. It was a different kind of beautiful.

A low whistle broke her thoughts. Spinning she found the bespeckled lower class daemon with white hair in front of her. "Looks like the crazy, little mortal manage the impossible.", he congratulated with a fake, creepy smile. The other males around him laughed harshly, mocking her achievement.

"May I see it." It was an order not a question.

"You can see it _after_ your master has upheld his half of the bargain, Kabuto." Sakura returned, not backing down nor removing her mask.

That creepy, polite smile widened sending shivers up and down her spine.

"That would be fair.", he finally assuaged. Turning he signalled to the other creatures around him that had most probably contributed to the blast that had provided the diversion she required. "We must not delay. It is not polite to keep the Master waiting. I'm sure he shall be most pleased with your achievement, little mortal." With a mocking laugh he and the rest of the creatures walked through the gateway.

Sakura waited until they had all passed through so none of them were at her back. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the multi-coloured gateway and glided through.

_I'll be sooooo glad to get away from these creeps. _

…WeaponsAndRoses…

Coming out of the gateway, Sakura observed where she was. It appeared she was in a large throne room that had been carved completely from stone. Torches blazed along the edges of the room while a huge candle lit metal chandelier dangle precariously from the ceiling. Supernaturals of all sorts stood guard in between the generously spaced torches causing there forms to be mostly obscured by shadows. There were werewolves, vampires, demons, sirens and grim reapers just to name a few of the ones she could see. As if that didn't scare the living daylights out of her enough. There were no windows and from the stench of stale air. Sakura gathered they were deep underground. To her right was large wooden door that had claw marks and splashes of dried blood left from those who had entered this room but never left it. Stone columns decorated with intricate carvings held up the room and lead to a large stone throne to her rights. The room appeared to belong to a very ancient society that had been long forgotten and probably killed by those now occupying it. However, she was more interested in who was sitting on the throne than its owner's room.

"Sakura, my dear, you made it. You see Kabuto, I told you I had a good feeling about this one." The voice caressed her like that of an oily sickness seeping into her pores and infecting her with terror. A snake daemon with a forked tongue, ghostly pale skin, long black hair and sharp eyes watched her carefully as she followed Kabuto towards the throne. This daemon was one you would never want to piss off if you wanted to live or wanted to die quickly for that matter. The powerful evil aura he gave off would have made a lesser daemon cower in fear. Humans would have been reduced to a bawling, begging mess almost instantly.

_You don't get that powerful unless you have lived for a very, very long time. And killed a heck of a lot of things._

Sakura only had just enough sheer willpower to stop from crumbling to the ground herself, completely petrified. She knew that showing even the slightest amount of fear may very well end with her being eaten alive, quite literally. No, she had come too close to succeeding to fail now. Her resolve strengthened.

"Did you get what I asked for?" His tone was gleeful but, it didn't match the cold calculation that was dwelling just below the surface in his beady eyes.

"Yes Orochimaru. But you can have after you have upheld your end of the bargain.", Sakura said firmly. Give them an inch and they would take your damn soul.

Everyone froze in shock at Sakura's stupidity or bravery. However, it quickly morphed into fear. The foul stench of urine protruded into the chamber. One of the guards had wet himself. Sakura didn't take her gaze off the beady, cold eyes in front of her that now looked murderous. She wasn't taking back her words. Then unexpectedly the snake demon laughed. Not a cruel laugh but a full-bellied genuine laugh. The guards tensed further; apparently that wasn't a good sign. Sakura altered her stance in preparation for the impending attack and her certain death.

"Wonderful! You my dear are a gem. No one has made me laugh that hard in a millennia." He dramatically wiped the tears from his eyes. The room didn't relax. Those eyes suddenly lost their falseness and turned bloodthirsty and calculating. "I cannot decide whether you are brave or have a death wish. Hmmm" He tapped his claw-like fingers to his chin in contemplation, clearly enjoying making everyone except Sakura squirm. She ruthlessly pulverised that urge and looked her predator dead in the eye, willing herself to betray nothing of the terror that had her quaking internally. Abruptly he smiled and the room stopped breathing.

"Nether the less, I shall gladly honour our agreement."

Sakura started breathing again. Apparently she had passed the hidden test.

"My lord, but –" Kabuto exclaimed in shock.

Orochimaru waved away his comment and nodded to him to get the briefcase just at his feet.

Grabbing it, Kabuto walked over and handed to her. Taking it, she ran a quick magick detecting spell over it to ensure there weren't any bombs, tracking devices and what was promised was actually in there.

An indulgent smile stretched across the powerful snake daemon's face. "Done checking, my sweet?", he asked her as if she were a small child. She probably was compared to how old he was. If possible his smile became even more disturbing.

"Yes." Reaching into her jacket with her free hand, Sakura took out the book she had and gave it to Kabuto, who turned and took it to his master. There drop of her blood on the cover, but hopefully he would not notice or mind.

Orochimaru took it reverently from him. A sigh was released from his lips as his pale bony hand gently caressed its ancient cover. "Thankyou, my child, you don't know what a treasure you have given me."

She stood there silently, still waiting for an attack.

"So few words" he spoke as if he was a parent lovingly reprimanding his child. "Did your parents never teach you how to participate in a polite conversation."

Sakura remained silent, but inwardly she flinched. Her parents were never around to do such a thing.

"Very well then my pretty blossom. You may leave. But you must work on your communication skills they are quite poor. I should hate for you to meet someone not as understanding as me and have them kill you." He sighed in exasperation and gestured to Kabuto, who turned and went back to the stone arch gateway in the wall to activate it. Gateways could only be activated by blood and could only connect to other gateways; they didn't pop up in the middle of nowhere. The blood requirement allowed the owner of the said gateway to somewhat monitor who could come and go. But if someone or something that wasn't allowed _really, really_ wanted to come through that gateway; it was going to anyway no matter the spells on it. It's creator said it was an unfortunate problem. And it can't be fixed since he was now dead due to that very same unfortunate problem. Ironic really. They were painstaking to create and even harder to protect and maintain. That Orochimaru had one in his throne room spoke of his strength and confidence that he could prevent those he didn't want coming through it and even if they did he had the power to end them. As if his menacing aura wasn't enough to terrify others into submission.

"As promised, we shall not attempt further contact and leave you and yours alone. Though I do wish you would continue working for us? We do so love your company.", he sounded falsely hopeful.

"I'm afraid I shall have to decline the offer", Sakura said politely and bowed graciously to him. In her head she was swearing up and down that she would never work for them again.

"Such a shame. Do try to stay alive though, little flower, it shall make my life so much more entertaining."

"Glad to have been of service.", she replied without emotion even though she really wanted to curse the snake bastard into next century when he burst out laughing or high tail it out of there. Self-preservation won out and she walked over to the gateway, passing the fake smiling Kabuto along the way.

"Goodbye, my little flower, I do hope we shall one day meet again.", Orochimaru called as she slipped through the multi-coloured gateway.

_That is one meeting I would gladly never attend._

…WeaponsAndRoses…

**Hope you liked it. Please review. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Just warning you guys, I was cackling the whole time I was writing this chapter. It may have had something to do with the fact I finished the storyline finally for it and you all have no idea what you're in for. (insert evil laugh of the all-knowing author). But never you mind you'll find out. Eventually. **

**Huge thanks to Nameless Lurker for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

…WeaponAndRoses…

Chapter 3

"Rei, get over here! Do you know how many customers I've had to serve because you couldn't get here on time? It was awful, some idiot nearly chipped one of my nails when handed me his cash.", Haruka whined, waving her hands around like some mad bird.

"I'm sorry", Sakura said absently as walked into the female staff change room.

"Oh really? I bet you are! You are completely unreliable and …." Sakura tuned her out as she quickly changed into her work uniform.

It had been three years after that meeting with Orochimaru and as promised the she got her sum of $100 trillion. She had used it to pay off a debt that she had personally considered hers, though technically it wasn't entirely. However, because of the large sum the people from the first fourteen years of her life were safe. She had had to do it anonymously because the rest of the world believed, apart from Orochimaru and Kabuto, Sakura Haruno was dead. And that was the way it was going to stay. Even if no one ever knew who she really was and no one remembered her. She didn't care. She had been on her own for so long, it made little difference now.

Let no one close, seemed to be the saying that dictated her daily life and every thought or plan that she had for the future. It was better that way for her. For them. And that was all that mattered.

She had had no contact from Orochimaru as also promised and nobody had come banging down her door to take her away for her crimes. Things were looking up, but that was only because Sakura had made some major changes to her life. Her last alias, before the job, had been a poor girl who had worked at a fruit shop and went by the name Kimi. A black haired, brown eyed unremarked _human_ girl. Sakura had been able to fly under the radar as "Kimi", which had been very important at the time considering she was also running around as a thief for hire whenever she could. Of course her thieving career hadn't been all that intentional she had been forced into due to unfortunate circumstances. Well that and she was practically perfect for the job.

She had started small, never showing her face and getting paid honestly pathetic amounts. But as her capability to steal higher up items became known so did the amount of reward money rise. Especially when she started stealing from supernaturals. That should have been her first clue to get out. But she didn't have a choice. In a short period of time, she had become infamous to the streets, authorities and individuals. Humans and supernaturals alike. So much so that she had been given a name, "Shadow". Because according to reporters she slipped through security and the authorities fingers just like one.

_They weren't far off on that one._ Sakura thought. _But Shadow sure pissed off a hell of a lot of people. _

The authorities had been ridiculed to the extent were they posted a warrant for "Shadow" to be captured dead or alive. Many supernaturals had joined in the hunt and she had had way to many close calls. But still Sakura had managed to remain hidden as "Kimi". Since nobody knew what gender Shadow was there had been many public confessions. Women of every species had swooned over shadow declaring their love and fangirling. Men had wanted Shadow as their lover or as their personal hit man if she were a male. Sakura knew it was time to get out, but she needed just one more job that was extremely high paying to pay off that personal debt. Then she would go dark.

That was when the lower class daemon, Kabuto had approached in the fruit shop when she was working as "Kimi". Nobody had connected "Kimi" and "Shadow", yet somehow this lower class daemon had. Which only worried Sakura more. She didn't have much time left before authorities made the connection as well. He had made her an offer to steal a book and they would pay her and keep her identity as Sakura Haruno a secret. It was obvious she was stuck so she had gone allow with it. But first she wasn't stupid even if she had been backed into a corner. She had told him she would meet him later to discuss the conditions over her service. A few days later, she had met Orochimara, the leader of an underground cult or society. She didn't know which it was but she didn't care. The snake daemon and the whole underground hideout thing just gave her the creeps. And when she got that feeling it usually meant something bad was going to happen. But unfortunately this time she couldn't run away like the devil himself was on her tail. He had asked her to steal the old tome from one of the hideouts of one of the ruling supernatural families, the Senju's. That name alone was enough to nearly make Sakura balk and refuse the job. But with the snake bastard breathing down her neck and the personal debt she had no choice.

_And thus, resigned myself to an early grave. _

She had bargained hard and managed to get the sum of $100 trillion, her identity remaining secret and no further contact or jobs from Orochimaru and his goons. That they had agree to those conditions showed how desperate they were for the book. She had found out the job was more dangerous since they had already attempted to steal the book multiple times. Sakura preferred to steal from unsuspecting targets, since that meant that the item wouldn't be locked up by the best magick and non-magick security out there and guarded by a huge number of the most powerful daemons. She had believed before the operation that she would have a better chance running away in Hell from Death with a neon sign strapped on her back saying 'I'm here. Kill me, ya badly dressed pansy. Didn't you know ragged black frocks were so last century.' Yep, better to chance the Grim Reaper himself.

But obviously she had survived and Sakura Haruno remained "dead". All her conditions had been met and she had gone dark. No more stealing, no more fighting, no more trouble. As she had planned, over the past three years she had secured a new identity Rei Kita and become a goody-two-shoe's, law-abiding, _human _citizen with a small amount of magick. She had blended seamlessly into the human population, becoming just as ordinary and uninteresting as the rest of them. And as far as she was concerned the book incident was well and truly behind her. Though it never paid to be cautious.

Sakura had moved apartments and was now across the highly populated city in a safer and more human orientated suburb. However, some habits die hard. She always carried enough weapons that she thought could half fill a small armoury. Knives, a short sword, guns, a garrotte, poisoned needles, smoke bombs and a few other surprises. Oh, and of course her green pendant necklace that amplified her magick power and removed the limits that applied to her half human form. The limits that wouldn't have applied to her if she were fully her other supernatural half. Her hair, she had left its natural colour, pink and in all honesty it didn't stand out as much anymore. All the colours of the rainbow seemed to be the rage at the moment for dyeing ones hair. Even Haruka, the daughter of the owner of the café where she now worked, had outrageous bright purple hair that she flipped this way and that to get the attention of anything in pants that walked into the diner.

Finished changing, she walked out of the staff changing room and into the kitchen. Haruka followed her complaining all the way. Grabbing a serving tray, she loaded some plates of food onto it before hefting it up and walking out of the kitchen. Haruka finally stopped pestering her after being snapped at by the chef to get back to work. Placing the plates of food down on their respective tables, she wished each customer a good meal before heading back to the kitchen to grab more plates. The orders had piled up as they usually did when Haruka was on duty, but she was the boss's daughter so she got away with it. She did with most things come to think of it.

Smiling, she refilled a table's water jug and assured them their food wouldn't take long. She still wore brown contacts, but she let her skin colour return to its normal pale shade. Dark skin and pastel pink hair made her stand out more than her pale skin did. Changing her name and identity wasn't new thing for her. In truth, she had changed her name and looks three times after 'Sakura Haruno' had apparently died at age sixteen in an abandoned building that had caught on fire due to a gas leak. The papers reported it to be a tragic accident that had befallen on a bright but unfortunate teenage girl.

_Tragic accident, my ass. It had been lit on purpose, with me in it._

The five hours of work passed fast. She did not have a moment to sit down thanks to Haruka spending most of the time flirting with male customers than actually doing anything. Walking back to the changing room, she quickly changed into her jeans, plain white t-shirt, black jacket and comfortable boots that she could kick someone's ass in if she needed to. Checking all her weapons were secured and she left the room swiftly to avoid Haruka before she back there to change. Call her crazy, but she just didn't feel comfortable or safe walking around without them. She had pissed off enough people in high places while she was "Shadow", especially during her last job. So she was not inclined to take any chances. Sakura grabbed her pay-check on the way out and called bye to her co-workers as she left.

Walking down the busy, snow covered street she remembered she had to finish that paper on different magick and non magick ways to heal a bone by next week. At the age of twenty-two, Sakura or Rei was a respectable student studying the application magick and medicine at one of the many magick and education colleges for mortals and supernaturals alike in the city. The smell of ramen wafted tantalizingly in the air. Perhaps she could duck by the Goblin Market and pick up some. A cold winter breeze whipped down the busy and bustling street. Yes, she was definitely getting that ramen, it would get rid the frozen feeling in her bones and warm her up nicely.

Taking a left at the lights, she moved around a handsome, blond male vampire, before heading down the street. The modern human world had been merged with the supernatural world some hundred years ago. Skyscrapers towered overhead while daemons, angels and any other creature that could fly buzzed about them like a chaotic swarm of wasps. And they weren't just in the sky they were on and under the ground as well. Supernatural beings walked in plain sight, some choosing to blend in while others hid nothing. The humans or mortals as these creatures liked to call them walked completely at ease and oblivious dangers the many different creatures possessed. Don't ask her how, but they all managed to sweet talk the general population of humans into believing they meant no harm and were there to protect them.

_Yeah and zombies don't eat people.,_ Sakura thought sarcastically.

So now both mortal and supernatural beings had completely assimilated into the same environment where they managed to get along quite well most of the time, as long as you didn't piss a supernatural off that is. Though that wasn't always the case sometimes. Just like psychotic humans were bloodthirsty so were psychotic supernaturals, only they tended to do a heck of a lot more damage.

Just the other week a vampire went on a psycho killing, sorry, feeding spree. Forty-nine people were ripped to shreds. Most of them died instantly and they were the lucky ones. However, one human girl had had her blood drained completely _and_ had ingested some of the vampire's blood when she had bitten him while trying to fend him off.

_Stupid, stupid girl. _

Being bitten by a vampire does nothing to a human's genetic status. To be more clear, you don't change into a vampire. Being sucked dry by a vampire just ends with you dead. So it's not recommended. And unfortunately, being sucked dry by a vampire _and_ ingesting some of the said vampire's blood doesn't change you into one either. Nope, you tended to get a bad case of zombie-itis, which is most definitely incurable. Vampires are born NOT bitten and transformed! So the girl ended up _permanently_ dead with her brains blown out on the street. The vampire wasn't so lucky. He was buried alive underground in a coffin for a half a century as punishment. Talk about brutal. Yep, it was better just to maintain a healthy distance and not become overly involved with a supernatural. Not that Sakura could talk. She was half supernatural being herself which next to none picked up on. But it didn't really count since she wasn't a bloodthirsty psycho who would screw your life and soul six ways to Hell.

Turning one more corner she walked down the busy street and through an archway marked with an ancient inscription which roughly translated into: Goblin Market. Goods for sale. Barter at the peril of your life and soul.

_Great welcoming greeting. All it needed was some dried blood, claw marks and a couple of hanging corpses on it and the effect would be complete_.

Sakura didn't often come down here anymore. Mortals were known for being eaten or killed if they bargained wrong and that was putting it nicely. So it was mainly those few humans who were crazy, stupid and/or naïve enough to go there and mostly supernaturals that attended. She passed a stall that was selling legs of all sorts including human and another stall that was selling priceless jewels and an assortment of weapons. Anything and everything was on sale and it wasn't always legal. But if you needed something that was hard to get, this was where you would go to find it. It was also a maze, which meant you could wander about for days before you found your way out or bartered away your soul to find your way out. Luckily, Sakura had learned this maze so well she knew it like the back of her hand. She had lived here for the last few years before Sakura Haruno's 'death'. It had been a great but hazardous hiding place.

Avoiding an arguing banshee and goblin who were having a vicious screaming match over an old family relic. Apparently the family who the banshee sang or screamed for when their time came had owned it. One more twist and turn and she was there. Ramen Ichiraku. It was a great ramen bar that was run by a kind lower class daemon, Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame, who had let her sleep there sometimes during her nights on the run. At the time, she had dyed her hair dull brown, tinged her pale skin with a cheap dye that had made it darker and worn blue contacts. Her name had been Yue at the time and she had been a lot younger. Now the kind Teuchi no longer recognised her and regarded her as just another customer, which was for the best. If ever it was ever realised she was alive, this would be one of the first places they would look.

"One bowl of beef ramen, please", she asked Ayame.

With a bright smile Ayame said, "One moment please, it won't take long." Then she walked away to serve another customer.

Ah, it was good to sit in familiar company even if they didn't recognise her. That and she couldn't wait to have Teuchi's ramen, which she had gone without for two months.

A bowl of steaming beef ramen was placed in front of her by Ayame a few minutes later. "Please enjoy your meal.", she said before she was gone again.

"Itadakimasu" Sakura dug into her meal savouring every single bite.

_Ah bliss._

It wasn't until she had almost finished the bowl that the hairs on the back of her neck rose in warning.

Glancing from the corner of her eye, she saw two devilishly handsome daemons. A blond fox daemon and a dark haired chaos daemon.

_Well shit._

"Naruto!", Teuchi called knowingly, "Back again already."

The blond fox daemon, Naruto beamed a mega-watt smile and sat down at the bar "You bet, pops!"

"Oh and I see you brought Sasuke with you."

"Hn", came the one syllable answer as he to sat down at the bar just four seats away from Sakura.

"More like dragged. He was being emo again and having a hissy fit."

"I was not. You whined until I agreed to come with you."

Sakura barely managed to keep her composure. Their aura's were just as strong if not even stronger than last time she meet them. And even though she had gotten stronger, she wouldn't last long against the pair of them. She didn't even want to think of the consequences of them recognising her. Her fear and panic nearly had her in a quivering mess, but she controlled it.

_Time to go._

Leaving her money on the table as payment for the ramen, Sakura carefully rose with a siren and satyr who were leaving and exited the shop with them. Neither daemon spared her a glance as she left. It wasn't until she was halfway down the street that she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Quickly, she hurried along down the cobble stone streets of the market towards the entrance she came in. She kept her pace brisk but not fast. Sakura didn't want to draw any attention to herself.

_That was way too close. No more Ramen Ichiraku ever. It's not worth being caught even though they shouldn't have any way of finding me. They may not know what I look like, but that doesn't mean they don't have other methods to find me._

Glancing over her shoulder indiscreetly, she didn't see hide nor hair of either daemon. Releasing a deep breath, she turned back around and slammed into a clothed, muscled, male chest.

"Sorry", she muttered, brown eyes downcast as she moved to step around whatever she had run into.

"Hello little mortal. Did you forget me?", that oh so familiar dark, lulling voice and musky scent invaded her senses. Her heart burst into a sprinting pace and her palms became sweaty.

Sakura looked up involuntarily and was trapped by unmerciful blood red eyes. A vengeful and arrogant smirk graced his handsome features. She couldn't look away! Couldn't move! Couldn't defend herself! What in hell magick was this?!

Leaning forward until their faces were separated by an inch he whispered, "I haven't forgotten you. Not for the week I had to recover from that lovely stab wound you gave me that made me crash into the ground. Nor the three long years that followed."

_Oh, shit! _

Her life was over. Finished. Done. Kaput. There was absolutely no hope now.

"Sasuke!", the voice of the blond fox daemon, Naruto, yelled distantly from behind her.

"Sweet nightmares, little Shadow. Think of me."

Then whatever magick from his blood red eyes intensified and she found herself falling backwards. Dully, she registered strong arms coming around her and lifting her up. Her eyes drifted shut as her vision blurred.

"Who is she, Sasuke?", a garbled male voice came through her muddied hearing.

Dark laughter rumbled from the muscled, warm body that held her close. And the next few words came through with piercing clarity. "The mortal who caused us all that trouble three years ago. And I intend to repay her in full and then some."

He said something else, but it was lost to her as the darkness overwhelmed Sakura and dragged her down into oblivion.

…WeaponsAndRoses…

**Thanks for reading. Please review. **


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